The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for producing a tread/reinforcement belt unit for a pneumatic vehicle tire in which a rotatable winding drum, a belt feeding device for a first and a second reinforcement band, an overlay feeding device, a tread feeding device and a transfer device are provided.
Recently, various methods for producing a tread/reinforcement belt unit by using overlays in the form of wound overlays have become available. In these known methods the problem arises that the winding of the overlay onto the winding drum requires considerably more time than the application of the individual reinforcement belt layers, respectively, the tread, so that the time requirements for the working cycle are considerably increased. Methods have been known in which the working steps of applying the reinforcement belt layers and the winding of the overlay are decoupled in such a manner that these steps may be performed simultaneously. However, this requires two completely independent winding drums.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a method of the aforementioned kind with which a sufficient number of tread/reinforcement belt units may be produced on a single winding drum in a given short time span.